The Playboy's Proposal

by Amanda Browning

  ‘You must be some kind of witch,’ he panted. ‘There’s a kind of magic in those lips of yours that make me want to keep coming back for more.’ Framing her face with his gloved hands, he eased her head back so that he could look into her eyes. ‘We’re sitting on a log, with the snow falling around us, and I can barely keep my hands off you! I’ve got to be crazy!’

  When it came to craziness, that made two of them. What was she thinking of? Why was it that every time he touched her every sane and sensible thought vanished? Who had put a spell on who? The question sent a wave of unease through her, and she couldn’t say why. What she did know was that the breathing space had given her sanity the opportunity to recover. She placed her hands over his and prised them away.

  ‘You have some pretty potent magic of your own, but I guess you’ve had enough practice to get it down to a fine art,’ she said dryly, wishing her pulse would settle down.

  Joel dropped his hands and gave her a look of wry amusement. ‘Ouch. You certainly know how to hit below the belt. I meant what I said, Kathryn. There’s something extra special about you,’ he insisted, and Kathryn sighed.

  ‘I’m sure you mean it every time you say it.’

  He frowned at her. Watching her get to her feet. ‘That wasn’t a very nice thing to say.’

  She shoved her hands into her coat pockets and stamped her feet to get some feeling back into them. ‘It isn’t very nice to know you’re just the latest in a long line.’

  Joel got up too, and stood staring down at her with a faint frown still between his eyes. ‘That is something I can do nothing about.’

  ‘I know. Your past is a matter of public—very public—record. I’d rather avoid being just another statistic. It’s a female thing. You wouldn’t understand,’ she told him mockingly.

  ‘You’re wrong; I do understand. You’ve always been different from the rest, that’s why I find you so fascinating. I’ve never come across anyone quite like you before,’ Joel countered. ‘As to your being a statistic… You know I would never force you into anything, but I reserve the right to try and persuade you to change your mind.’

  Kathryn didn’t even have to think about it. She knew instinctively that Joel would never take what was not freely given. It was up to her to remain firm. The trouble with that was that he was so damned persuasive.

  ‘Personally, I think I’m doing enough by agreeing to track down those files of yours,’ she returned dryly, and his expression became serious.

  ‘It would be a debt I could never fully repay, and I wouldn’t ask you to do it if it wasn’t vitally important. The new projects are something my company could live without, but to allow this to happen once without doing something would be to invite it again. That I am not prepared to accept.’

  Kathryn shook her head wonderingly. ‘You know, for an unprincipled rogue, you have a surprising number of principles.’

  At that he grinned. ‘Even a rogue has his limits. Speaking of which, I’ve just reached my tolerance level for cold. The snow’s getting heavier by the minute. It would be madness to stay here any longer. Let’s go home.’

  It was a suggestion she was happy to fall in with, for the weather was deteriorating drastically. In a reversal of roles, she was the one looked in thought on the way back, and it was all due to her companion. Like the best-laid schemes, hers was going wrong. Resisting Joel, she was beginning to realise, was going to be easier said than done.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  KATHRYN stirred and rolled onto her back with a sigh. As she lay there, wriggling her toes in the comfort of the duvet, she slowly became aware of the silence, and raised herself on her elbows, looking towards the window. Last night a blizzard had been howling around the house, making her start at every sudden bang and crash. Now it had stopped, leaving an almost eerie quietness. Throwing back the duvet, she climbed from the bed and went to the window, pulling aside the curtains only to gasp at the sight which met her eyes.

  The whole world was white for as far as the eye could see. Thick drifts of snow lay everywhere, several feet deep, and it was still snowing with those thick flakes that said it had been doing so for some hours and had no intention of stopping any time soon. As Joel had predicted, they were snowed in.

  She shivered, though the room was cosy and warm, due to the central heating. Kathryn had learned from Agnes that Joel had fires lit in some rooms because he preferred them to radiators. Thinking of Agnes only served to remind her that the other woman was no longer in the house, nor likely to be for the next few days, given the conditions. Apparently she always spent Saturday evening and Sunday in Kendal with friends, and as soon as they had returned from their walk Joel had insisted she go early, before it became hazardous to drive. After protesting, she had given in to his urging, and consequently Kathryn and Joel were alone in the house.

  It was not an ideal situation, but Kathryn was determined to play it cool. So she had to stay here for a few extra days. That didn’t mean anything was going to happen. Last night they had eaten the dinner Agnes had prepared for them and then spent the evening together quite comfortably, listening to the radio and talking. In fact, she couldn’t remember when she had enjoyed an evening more. They had chatted about surprisingly disparate subjects, finding they had many things in common.

  Leaning against the window frame, she allowed a tiny smile to tug at the corners of her mouth as she ran through the evening in her mind. She remembered being enthralled yet again by the animation on his face as he’d talked about his favourite subject. She wondered if he was aware that he laughed with his eyes when something really amused him. He wasn’t at all the kind of man she had expected from his reputation. He had been relaxed and at ease, and the attempted seduction that Drew would have expected had never materialised.

  In fact, she had enjoyed herself so much she had been loath to go to bed. It had only been when she’d found it impossible to stifle a jaw-breaking yawn that she had reluctantly taken herself off to her room. There she had tumbled into bed and been asleep almost as soon as her head had touched the pillow. Now it was morning, and she could feel an unexpected bubble of anticipation inside her. Crazy as it might sound, she was actually looking forward to seeing him again.

  Which had to be the craziest feeling she had ever had, she berated herself as she pushed herself upright and reached for the robe that matched her long cream silk nightdress. It was early yet: not quite seven, according to her watch. She would just pop down to the kitchen and make herself some coffee. She would need the kick-start if she seriously intended to solve the matter of tracking down the missing files.

  Barefoot, she padded quietly down the stairs and along the hall to the kitchen. Pushing the door open, she was brought up short with a gasp of surprise when she found the room already occupied. Joel stood at the counter, idly stirring a mug of coffee as he stared out at the snow. He turned at the sound of her entrance, the spoon slowing to a stop, and there was an arrested look on his face when he saw her standing there.

  He was barefoot, too…and bare-legged. In fact she was pretty sure the towelling robe he wore, which gaped above the belt, allowing her a glimpse of silky dark chest hair, was the only thing he wore. It was a mind-blowing thought, and she suddenly found herself fighting an urge to go to him and discover for herself if that hair was as silky as it looked. Joel meanwhile allowed his eyes to travel the length of her and back again. It was like a caress, and Kathryn felt her body tighten in response.

  Oh, God, she thought faintly. It was barely seven o’clock in the morning and the room was alive with that peculiar electricity they always generated whenever they came close to each other.

  Joel cleared his throat. ‘That has to be the sexiest number I’ve ever seen,’ he declared gruffly, and the sound made her senses leap.

  She laughed edgily. ‘It covers me from top to toe,’ she pointed out unnecessarily, and he grinned that wolfish grin which engendered various emotions in her, none of which was fear.

  ‘I kn
ow. It’s making my imagination work overtime in ways you can’t imagine.’

  Oh, Kathryn wasn’t so sure about that. She could imagine all too clearly what he was thinking, and it didn’t help to ease the curling sensation inside her.

  ‘Are you coming or going?’ Joel asked before she could form a rational response, and she wasn’t too sure about that either. It was the effect he seemed to have on her.

  ‘Ask me an easier one,’ she quipped back wryly, knowing she was giving a lot away, but doubting that he had been unaware of it anyway.

  In response, a gleam entered his eyes, and, abandoning his coffee, he prowled across the floor towards her. She tensed automatically, but all he did was take her hand and pull her a step or two into the room so that he could push the door closed behind her. Then, smiling faintly, he took a step closer and Kathryn backed up—only to meet the solid wood of the door. She was trapped, and they both knew it.

  Joel placed his palms flat against the door, either side of her head, and his eyes glittered. ‘Now what are you going to do?’ he taunted softly.

  Wise or not, Kathryn had never been one to back down from a challenge. Instead of doing the obvious thing, and demanding he let her go, she did what she had been secretly longing to do anyway. She reached up and slipped her hand inside the lapel of his robe and ran her palm caressingly over the taut skin of his chest. It was music to her ears to hear his breath hiss through his teeth as she took him by surprise, and her pulse-rate soared skywards.

  ‘How was that for starters?’ she goaded naughtily, and would have made good her escape by ducking under his arm. But he was one step ahead of her and foiled her by the simple act of taking that half-step which brought his body into full contact with hers. This time it was her breath that caught in her throat as she clearly felt the evidence of his arousal.

  ‘Oh, no, you don’t!’ he said quickly. ‘You don’t get away with it that easily.’

  Kathryn tipped her head up, eyes glittering with defiance and something far more potent. ‘You started it,’ she accused. It was impossible for her to move, with one hand trapped between their two bodies. Not that she really wanted to. Her senses were going crazy with the scent and feel of him. Beneath her hand she could feel the rhythmic thud of his racing heart, and it matched her own.

  Joel’s hands cupped her face, his fingers tangling in her hair. ‘And I’m about to finish it,’ he murmured sexily. ‘You shouldn’t have done that.’

  ‘You shouldn’t have dared me,’ she shot back faintly, all the strength seeming to go out of her voice as her eyes locked on his mouth, so tantalisingly close to her own. Lord, how she wanted to feel it on her own, creating the magic that only he could conjure up.

  ‘If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to have to kiss you.’ Joel issued the warning from low in his throat, and she raised heavy-lidded eyes to his.

  ‘What’s stopping you?’ she whispered through a painfully tight throat, and he laughed softly.

  ‘Damned if I know,’ he admitted, and finally brought his mouth down on hers.

  Her sigh of pleasure was lost as her lips parted to the insistent caress of his tongue. Her free hand clutched at the cloth on his back, holding on as their kisses stoked fires still smouldering from the last time. They went up like dry tinder, Joel’s hands leaving her face to seek out the silk-covered curves of her back. She shivered with delight as his hands fastened on her hips and pulled her closer. Pressing herself against him, she struggled to free her other hand and slip it around his neck. At the same time she felt his hands gliding upwards, finding her waist, then his thumbs discovered the swell of her breasts and she stopped thinking. Her body surged, her breasts waiting achingly for his touch, and when it came she moaned at the exquisite pleasure. Joel’s response was to press her back against the door and slip one powerful thigh between hers.

  The jarring tones of the telephone broke them apart with all the finesse of a bucket of cold water, and it took them a moment to realise just what it was. Cursing under his breath, Joel dragged a hand through his hair and stalked to the phone which hung on the wall, barely managing to speak civilly.

  Kathryn closed her eyes and pressed a hand to her bruised lips. This was all getting out of hand. She was supposed to be doing the sensible thing, not encouraging him. But when he got close things always got jumbled in her mind—when she was able to think at all. What on earth was the matter with her? Why couldn’t she simply keep some distance between them?

  She heard Joel replace the receiver and opened her eyes again. He was looking at her through smouldering eyes as he came back to her. Reaching out, he ran his hands slowly up and down her upper arms.

  ‘That was my neighbour. He was checking up on us. I told him we were OK for food and heating. He uses his tractor to help clear the roads for the outlying houses. If the snow stops today, he’ll be out to clear the lane. If not, it will be tomorrow at the earliest,’ he explained concisely, then his eyes lowered to her mouth broodingly. ‘Now, where were we…?’ He made a move to close the distance between them, and Kathryn raised her hands quickly to keep him at bay.

  ‘Oh, no. I don’t think so,’ she refused, having had time to cool her heated blood.

  ‘Before Wilf rang you were more than ready to be swept upstairs to my bed,’ Joel argued persuasively, and she couldn’t deny it.

  ‘Your friend has impeccable timing,’ she returned calmly, although she was still far from calm on the inside.

  ‘You mean he gave you time to change your mind,’ Joel responded ironically, and to give him his due, however frustrated he was, he was far from being angry.

  ‘It is a woman’s privilege,’ Kathryn added softly, fully aware that her behaviour had given him every reason to suppose she intended going to bed with him. Which she probably would have done, had the phone not rung. ‘I’m sorry.’

  Joel released her and stepped away. ‘Don’t be. I won’t pretend I’m not disappointed, but there will be other times, and, as I told you before, I would never force a woman.’ Turning round, he went back to where his mug of coffee stood cooling on the countertop. Lifting the coffee pot, he glanced at her over his shoulder. ‘Coffee?’

  ‘Thanks.’ She nodded, attempting to pull herself together, when in truth all of her senses were still vitally aware of him. ‘I guess you’re what my mother would call a true gentleman. I, on the other hand, wasn’t very ladylike. I shouldn’t have taken that dare,’ she added wryly as she crossed the room.

  Turning, he held out a mug. ‘Take my word for it, Kathryn, when it comes to being a lady, you’re hell on wheels. Which is why I will probably spend the next hour taking cold showers,’ he observed with wry humour, smiling into her eyes, and it was in that instant, when she looked into those blue depths as she was taking the mug from him, that she made a startling discovery.

  She had fallen in love with him.

  It was the sort of revelation that made everything she had been feeling that much clearer, and, conversely, at the same time made everything unbelievably complicated. For there was nothing simple in falling for Joel Kendrick, except the manner of it. She had looked into his eyes and been lost. It was clear to her now that since the very first she had been fighting a losing battle. Unbeknownst to her, love had hit her like a bolt of lightning. Whilst she had thought herself flirting with a powerful attraction, deep in her heart had been hidden the fact that, as she had always expected it would be, she had fallen in love with him on sight.

  ‘Is everything OK?’ Joel’s concerned voice broke into her jumbled thoughts and brought her back to the present.

  Nerves jangling for quite another reason now, she stepped back from him, automatically cradling the mug for comfort. ‘Everything’s fine,’ she insisted just a fraction too hastily, and caught his frown. ‘I’m fine, really. Something just occurred to me, that’s all,’ she added, and that had to be the understatement to end all under-statements.

  ‘About the missing files?’ he asked at once, and s
he quickly set his mind at rest.

  ‘Oh, no. It was personal. Nothing to do with work at all.’

  ‘Is it something you want to talk about?’ he probed, taking his own mug and following her to the table, and her laugh carried the faintest edge of hysteria. This was the very last thing she would ever discuss with him.

  ‘Not right now. It was nothing, really.’ She refused his offer, and grimaced at the lie. Nothing? It was everything.

  Sitting facing her, he didn’t look convinced. ‘You looked as if you’d seen a ghost,’ he remarked, and that seemed very apt to Kathryn.

  In a way she had seen a ghost. The ghost of all her hopes and dreams. She had always taken it for granted that the man she fell in love with would feel the same about her. Now she realised how naive she had been. It was entirely possible to fall for someone who didn’t love you. Someone who would never love you, because he didn’t believe in love in the first place.

  Kathryn tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear with fingers that carried a faint tremor and smiled crookedly. ‘No. No ghost. You might say an unpalatable truth just reared up and bit me.’ She attempted to make light of it, for one thing was patently clear: she mustn’t ever let him know that she had fallen for him. Her wound might be self-inflicted, but it was her wound, and if she couldn’t have his love, she certainly didn’t want his pity.

  Joel looked sympathetic. ‘Truths have a habit of doing that,’ he agreed wryly.

  Didn’t they just? Sighing, Kathryn took another sip of coffee. ‘This weekend isn’t turning out at all the way I expected,’ she said with a wry shake of her head.

  ‘What were you expecting?’

  She laughed softly, though it was directed mostly at herself. ‘I certainly wasn’t expecting you. You came as quite a surprise,’ she declared honestly.

  His smile was full of self-mockery. ‘I wasn’t prepared for you, either. Women don’t usually go toe to toe with me.’